Gutierrez Moves Closer To Council Seat

Appellate Court Gives Him 26th Ward Election, But Torres To Appeal

April 15, 1986|By Mark Eissman.

The Illinois Appellate Court ruled Monday that Luis Gutierrez, an ally of Mayor Harold Washington, was elected alderman in the hotly contested 26th Ward election last month, but ordered that he not take a city council seat until noon Wednesday so the decision can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

After the decision, lawyers for candidate Manuel Torres, trailing by 20 votes in the aldermanic race, said they would appeal the ruling to the state high court Tuesday. They also said they would ask a Cook County Circuit Court judge Wednesday to order a runoff election because write-in votes cast on election day were not counted.

The appeals court was asked to decide whether a Circuit Court judge mistakenly kept open 10 of the ward`s 44 polling places for an additional two hours on election day and, if he did, whether the election outcome was affected.

The polling places were ordered to stay open March 18 after complaints by Washington supporters that five polling places opened more than one hour late. Lawyers for Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th), Torres` chief supporter, then went to Circuit Court with similiar complaints, and voting hours in an additional five polling places were extended.

In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court said there was inadequate evidence presented to review the judge`s election day decision and sent it back to Circuit Court for a trial.

Justices Glenn Johnson and Mel Jiganti said a Torres challenge to the election was proper, but election laws require that it take place while Gutierrez serves as 26th Ward alderman.

Unless the state Supreme Court changes that ruling, such a trial would take place while Gutierrez served as the ward`s alderman.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Mary Ann McMorrow said Torres` complaint raised ``serious allegations of substantial irregularities`` that require a new election.

Monday`s ruling was the latest event in a 28-day legal battle that has seen courts take the unprecedented step of preventing an apparent aldermanic winner from taking his seat while election challenges are argued.

Traditional election challenges require that the candidiate leading in the vote tally be declared the winner until the results can be proven wrong in a trial.

The polling place challenge is part of a three-pronged attack by Torres on the results of last month`s election.

While challenges were raised by Torres in the hope that a new election will be ordered, his secondary goal is to keep Gutierrez from taking a council seat while the challenges are argued in court.

This is important to Torres and Vrdolyak because court cases involving the special aldermanic race, one of seven ordered by a federal court last year, will likely continue for months and possibly until next year`s regularly scheduled elections. The 26th Ward seat is currently held by an alderman aligned with Vrdolyak.

The second Torres challenge stems from a court ordered search last week of more than 10,000 ballot envelopes after Torres claimed some write-in ballots were overlooked during intial counting.

During the search, 11 additional votes were found for an obscure write-in candidate, Jim Blasinski.

The additional votes are crucial because if a judge orders them counted, Gutierrez would be three votes short of the majority he needs to avoid a runoff election.

Gutierrez has argued that the additional write-in votes should not be counted, contending they were not adequately guarded in the Chicago Board of Election Commissioner`s warehouse after election day.

The third legal challenge by Torres is one brought under traditional voting laws, contesting the election`s outcome on a variety of grounds. Such a challenge would normally allow Gutierrez to serve as alderman while the case is heard.

Gutierrez`s lawyers claim the traditional approach is the only proper legal avenue available to Torres for challenging the election results. That case is currently before Circuit Judge Joseph Schneider, the same judge who ordered that the polling places stay open an additional two hours.

The 26th Ward race is crucial to control of the Chicago City Council.

Washington needs to have Gutierrez and one additional alderman to bring the number of his supporters to 25 in the 50-member council. With 25 mayoral supporters and 25 supporters of Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th), the mayor could use his power as the council`s presiding officer to cast the tie-breaking vote.